WASHINGTON DC— Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued its fiscal year (FY) 2024 priority open recommendations report to the HUD Secretary. The report highlights for HUD leadership 35 open recommendations from OIG reports that, if implemented, will help HUD address its most serious management challenges and enhance critical aspects of its operations. The report outlines important actions HUD can take to address recommendations related to: promoting health and safety in HUD-assisted housing, managing fraud risk and improper payments, improving information technology modernization and cybersecurity, protecting whistleblowers, and mitigating counterparty risk. Of the 35 priority open recommendations, 24 recommendations were identified in FY23, and 11 new recommendations were added for FY24. Each priority open recommendation is an opportunity for HUD to take specific action to increase the integrity of its operations and programs. In response to HUD OIG’s Priority Open Recommendations report for FY23, HUD took action to close 7 significant recommendations. For example, HUD improved its oversight of public housing authority compliance with the Lead Safe Housing Rule by clarifying what is required when a public housing authority determines target housing is exempt from the Rule. In addition, HUD improved its management over the flood insurance program by developing a reporting control to detect HUD-insured loans that do not maintain required flood insurance. “Our priority open recommendations report offers a roadmap for HUD leadership on specific actions they can take to address discrete challenges that will have the greatest positive impact on the Department’s mission. By focusing its efforts on these recommendations, HUD will be better positioned to protect whistleblowers, improve how Ginnie Mae handles troubled mortgage-backed security issuers, address systemic challenges with improper payments, and address recommendations that would put billions of taxpayer dollars to better use,” said Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis. The 35 priority open recommendations are featured on HUD OIG’s Open Recommendation Dashboard, which also provides information about HUD’s progress in addressing the recommendations. Anyone with knowledge of potential fraud, waste, abuse, misconduct, or mismanagement related to HUD programs should contact the HUD OIG Hotline at 1-800-347-3735 or visit, https://www.hudoig.gov/hotline. For media inquiries, contact us at [email protected].